Qussai's Poetry

Open Up Your Eyes Your Eyes You'll See

Open up your eyes you'll see –
The immense skies
that cloak the seas,
the vast fields
filled with blossoming greens,
the mysteries in the oceans,
and ripples of water,
along a wave-washed beach.

Open up your eyes you'll see –
joy, hope, happiness, dreams,
but when you squint
you will find –
what lies inside,
what lies deep,
sorrow, pain, injustice, grief.

Open up your eyes you'll see –
a path ahead
to a world –
where you can be,
where you can rise,
a place that you will find,
only if you open up your eyes.

Just Because

Based on the song “Lost!” by Coldplay

Just because your shirt got ripped,
doesn’t mean it can’t get fixed.

Just because you fell,
doesn’t mean it can’t get fixed.

Just because the sun set,
doesn’t mean it will never rise.

Just because you failed once,
doesn’t mean you will never succeed.

Just because penguins can’t fly,
doesn’t mean they want to.

Just because someone seems happy,
doesn’t mean they are.

Just because you’re leaving,
doesn’t mean you will never come back.

Just because you can hate,
doesn’t mean you can’t love.

Gramma’s House

Based on “Knoxville, Tennessee” by Nikki Giovanni


The house of my childhood.
Dusty, old–
orange pages
in thick books.

As ancient as the Versailles.
Pictures,
memories,
card games,
tea in the afternoon,
and lemonade in hot summer days.

I slide down the stairs,
like a kid slides down a slide,
to see my gramma knitting–
in the now resting,
once alive fortress–
where the wind used to sing.

At the end of the day
we sit and watch
the sun go down–
as the light reflects
down her wrinkling,
loving face,
while the blazing sun’s rays
through the windows leak,
retreating down the rolling valleys.

I Want to Do the Impossible

I want to walk on deep water

I want to drink the burning lava

I want to fly with the passing birds

I want to sprint to the end of the world

I want to jump to meet the farthest star

I want to slide on freezing glaciers through mountains

I want to hide under the shadow of the brilliant sun

I want to surf on tsunamis

I want to ride the mightiest tornado

I want to sleep in the loneliest cave

I want to rest in the most sequestering nest

I want to fall from the highest tower to the still streets

I want to solve the mysteries of the Mona Lisa

I want to carve my name on stone

I want to do the impossible,
to show the world
that nothing can step in my way.

I am determined–
and I know that I can do
the undoable.

Haiku #1

Everything Fades

Everything fades
like sugar in a tea cup
but footsteps remain.

Haiku # 2 – 3

From To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Atticus

Wise, committed, calm
stands up for what he believes.
A deep rooted tree.

Scout and Jem

Innocent, naive, young
newborn Mockingbirds that sing–
away from hunters' eyes.